at the end which turned
when you blew the whistle. No one was blowing the whistle now and yet
the wind-mill was turning and turning and turning.

"What can it mean?" said Diamond out loud after watching for a few
moments.

"It means _me_," answered the tiniest voice he had ever heard.

"Who are you, please?" asked Diamond.

"Well, really, I begin to be ashamed of you!" cried the voice. "You are
as bad as a baby that doesn't know its mother in a new bonnet!"

"Not quite so bad as that, dear North Wind," said Diamond. "And I am so
glad to see you. Did you sink the ship?"

"Yes."

"And drown everybody?"

"Not quite. One boat got away with six or seven men in it."

"And you took the others to that queer place the gentleman spoke of,"
said Diamond to himself. Aloud he said, "Please, North Wind, I want you
to take me to the country at the back of the north wind."

"That is not so easy," said North Wind and was silent so long that he
thought she must have gone away. But presently she spoke again.

"It is not so easy," she said thoughtfully. "But we shall see. We shall
see. You must go home, now, my dear, for you do not seem very well."

So Diamond went home. That afternoon, his head began to ache very much
and he had to go to bed. In the middle of the night, his aunt came in to
feel his forehead and to give him a drink of lemonade. Then he went off
to sleep, but was awake again soon, for a burst of wind blew open his
lattice window. The same moment, he found himself in a cloud of North
Wind's hair, with her beautiful face, set in it like a moon, bending
over him.

"Quick! Diamond!" she said. "I have found such a chance!"

"But I am not well," said Diamond.

"I know. But you will be better for it."

"Very well," said Diamond; and getting out of bed, he jumped into North
Wind's arms. Sure enough, the moment he felt her arms fold about him, he
began to feel better. It was a moonless night and very dark, with
glimpses of stars when the clouds parted.

"We shall soon get to where the waves are dashing about," said North
Wind. And soon, Diamond looking down saw the white glimmer of breaking
water far below him.

"You see, Diamond," said North Wind, "it is very difficult to get you to
the back of the north wind for that country lies in the very north
itself. Now, of course, I cannot blow northwards, for then I should have
to be South Wind. The north is where I come from--it is my home though I
never get nearer